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Benediction
eBook - 2013
Random House, Inc.
From the beloved and best-selling author of Plainsong and Eventide comes a story of life and death, and the ties that bind, once again set out on the High Plains in Holt, Colorado.
When Dad Lewis is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he and his wife, Mary, must work together to make his final days as comfortable as possible. Their daughter, Lorraine, hastens back from Denver to help look after him; her devotion softens the bitter absence of their estranged son, Frank, but this cannot be willed away and remains a palpable presence for all three of them. Next door, a young girl named Alice moves in with her grandmother and contends with the painful memories that Dad's condition stirs up of her own mother's death. Meanwhile, the town’s newly arrived preacher attempts to mend his strained relationships with his wife and teenaged son, a task that proves all the more challenging when he faces the disdain of his congregation after offering more than they are accustomed to getting on a Sunday morning. And throughout, an elderly widow and her middle-aged daughter do everything they can to ease the pain of their friends and neighbors.
Despite the travails that each of these families faces, together they form bonds strong enough to carry them through the most difficult of times. Bracing, sad and deeply illuminating, Benediction captures the fullness of life by representing every stage of it, including its extinction, as well as the hopes and dreams that sustain us along the way. Here Kent Haruf gives us his most indelible portrait yet of this small town and reveals, with grace and insight, the compassion, the suffering and, above all, the humanity of its inhabitants.
Baker & Taylor
A terminally ill cancer patient is attended throughout his final days by his wife and daughter while the trio contemplates their relationships with an estranged son, a situation that stirs up painful memories for a new next-door neighbor who has recently lost her mother. By the award-winning author of Eventide. 75,000 first printing.
From the beloved and best-selling author of Plainsong and Eventide comes a story of life and death, and the ties that bind, once again set out on the High Plains in Holt, Colorado.
When Dad Lewis is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he and his wife, Mary, must work together to make his final days as comfortable as possible. Their daughter, Lorraine, hastens back from Denver to help look after him; her devotion softens the bitter absence of their estranged son, Frank, but this cannot be willed away and remains a palpable presence for all three of them. Next door, a young girl named Alice moves in with her grandmother and contends with the painful memories that Dad's condition stirs up of her own mother's death. Meanwhile, the town’s newly arrived preacher attempts to mend his strained relationships with his wife and teenaged son, a task that proves all the more challenging when he faces the disdain of his congregation after offering more than they are accustomed to getting on a Sunday morning. And throughout, an elderly widow and her middle-aged daughter do everything they can to ease the pain of their friends and neighbors.
Despite the travails that each of these families faces, together they form bonds strong enough to carry them through the most difficult of times. Bracing, sad and deeply illuminating, Benediction captures the fullness of life by representing every stage of it, including its extinction, as well as the hopes and dreams that sustain us along the way. Here Kent Haruf gives us his most indelible portrait yet of this small town and reveals, with grace and insight, the compassion, the suffering and, above all, the humanity of its inhabitants.
Baker & Taylor
A terminally ill cancer patient is attended throughout his final days by his wife and daughter while the trio contemplates their relationships with an estranged son, a situation that stirs up painful memories for a new next-door neighbor who has recently lost her mother. By the award-winning author of Eventide. 75,000 first printing.
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Publisher:
New York : Alfred A. Knopf, 2013
ISBN:
9780307962157
0307962156
0307962156
Branch Call Number:
E-BOOK
Characteristics:
1 online resource
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Summary
Add a SummaryI enjoyed this quiet, reflective novel. The author has a gift for dialogue and setting. The manner in which the characters spoke sounded "real" and authentic. Kent Haruf captured the "feel" of rural, small-town life in the Colorado high plains. If you're looking for an action-packed story, this novel is definitely NOT for you.
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Add a CommentI have loved every one of this series that Kent Haruf created about Holt, CO. His writing style is simple as are the characters he portrays but the interwoven quality of the lives of the small town is wonderful and engrossing. All three of these novels made me cry and wish for more. Unfortunately, Kent Haruf is now deceased and will write no more. That is a sad ending.
This is a beautifully slowly-paced book about small town Holt Colorado residents as they
grapple with anticipatory grief and loss. Perhaps auto-biographical. I will miss Harruf's warm and humane insights.
The style is simple and beautiful but unsentimental. The chapters are masterly connected. The parts of the preacher and the congregation are excellent. The characters are real and human. A skilfully created book.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book!
Haruf writes so simply and his characters are so believable. It is not often I am so taken with the storyline that I am moved to tears. I was with this book!
I love Haruf's writing style and he will be missed. This is a gentle story once again of the small town of Holt and it's inhabitants. The story revolves around the final days of a dying man and his family while still showing other's lives....just how life in a small town would be. It's not action-packed but seems very real. A quick read.
This man's writing is simple in style, but so rich in detail and in emotion, it's mesmerizing. A family in a small Colorado town, is facing the imminent death of the father, while other lives go on around and rotate in and out of theirs. Beautiful. Just beautiful, in how Haruf sums up our little lives and shows how they impact on others.
I enjoyed this quiet, reflective novel. The author has a gift for dialogue and setting. The manner in which the characters spoke sounded "real" and authentic. Kent Haruf captured the "feel" of rural, small-town life in the Colorado high plains. If you're looking for an action-packed story, this novel is definitely NOT for you.
I enjoyed Benediction which very clearly described the family dynamics that can complicate life.
Beautifully written and deeply moving. It left me still immersed in the story and the lives of these characters and wondering about how the survivors' lives would turn out. The ending moved me to tears -- and that rarely happens.
I enjoyed the connections and the various stories around them. There were many threads and I found them to be woven together well. I was reminded that we are each a story and that time keeps moving forward and other stories happen to replace those that draw to a close.